Over 400 years ago, the dance of Izumo no Okuni captivated all of the audience, which became KABUKI, and from that Japanese Dance was born. Whether you’ve seen it before or not,
we hope you find it interesting…
Today, we’ll talk about the seven herbs of spring, which also appear in “HARUNOSHIRABE MUSUME NANAKUSA”.
｜JINJITSU no SEKKU
Jinjitsu no Sekku is the Day of Mankind, which falls on January 7th and is one of the five seasonal festivals.Jinjitsu no Sekku is January 7th, Day of Mankind. On this day, there is a custom of eating rice porridge containing the seven spring herbs.
｜Go Sekku（5 Seasonal Festivals)
The Go Sekku (5 Seasonal Festivals) are traditional events celebrating days when odd-numbered days occur together, and were introduced to Japan from China during the Nara period. In China, days when odd numbers coincided were considered unlucky, prompting rituals to ward off evil spirits. However, in Japan, odd numbers were regarded as auspicious, leading to the Five Festivals spreading as days of good fortune. During the Edo period, it became an official “ceremonial day” and was recognized by the Shogunate as a public holiday, spreading among samurai and commoners alike, and was also celebrated at home as a day to pray for good health and a good harvest, eating seasonal ingredients, and decorating. Unfortunately, when Japan switched from the lunar calendar to the solar calendar during the Meiji era, the Go Sekku ceased to be public holidays. This was a rational decision because the five seasonal festivals, which had marked the seasons according to the lunar calendar created a discrepancy of about one month under the solar calendar.
｜JINJITSU no SEKKU
The Go Sekku are celebrated on January 7th (JINJITSU), March 3rd (JOSHI), May 5th (TANGO), July 7th (TANABATA), and September 9th (CHOYO). The reason January is NOT the 1st day is that the 1st day of the year is considered an auspicious day, so another day was designated as the seasonal festival. On January 1st, there was a custom of warding off evil spirits with medicinal alcoholic beverages called “OTOSO”.
So why did it become the 7th day? In ancient China, there was a custom of assigning an animal to each day of the year for divination purposes, and it was customary to respect and not eat that animal on those days.
January 7th is known as “Human Day”, a day dedicated to honoring people. On this day, executions were not carried out, and it is said that people ate soup containing seven kinds of young greens to pray for health and safety throughout the year. This tradition was introduced to Japan and combined with the custom of picking and eating young greens on New Year’s Day and eating rice porridge made with seven kinds of grains, and came to be known as the “JINJITSU no SEKKU” or “NANAKUSA no SEKKU,” and is said to have evolved into the modern-day custom of eating rice porridge containing the seven herbs of spring.
｜NANAKUSA GAYU
When preparing the rice porridge with seven herbs eaten on the JINJITSU no SEKKU, there was a ritual to pray for good health and a bountiful harvest for the year.
｜7 Herbs of Spring
The 7 herbs of spring first appeared in “KAKAISHO,” a commentary on “The Tale of Genji” written by YOSHINARI YOTSUJI during the Muromachi period. It is said that there were descriptions of 12 types of plants there. After that, poems about the seven herbs of spring began to be passed down, although the authors are unknown.
“SERI NAZUNA GOGYO HAKOBERA HOTOKENOZA SUZUNA SUZUSHIRO KOREZO NANAKUSA”
Transtation: Japanese parsley, Shepherd’s purse, Cudweed, Chickweed, Henbit, Turnip, and Daikon radish-hese are the seven herbs.
The 7 Herbs of Spring contain vitamins and minerals often lacking during cold winters, offering medicinal benefits such as preventing colds and soothing stomachs weakened by overeating during New Year celebrations. This is why 7-herb rice porridge, Nanakusa Gayu in Japanese, is an ideal food for the cold season.
｜How to make Nanakusa Gayu
The Morisada Manko, which describes the customs of the three capitals (Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka) in the late Edo period, contains a description of Nanakusa Gayu.
First, on the 6th, purchase the seven herbs and place seven types of cooking utensils beside the cutting board:firewood, a kitchen knife, fire tongs, a surikogi pestle, a ladle, a copper ladle, and vegetable chopsticks. Then, on the evening of the 6th and dawn on the 7th, facing the lucky direction, pound the 7 herbs 7 times with each of the 7 utensils while chanting the festival verse. Thus, on the morning of the 7th, the family would put these seven herbs into rice porridge and eat it together, praying for good health and a bountiful harvest for the year, and for driving away birds that carry disease and destroy crops. This practice of pounding the 7 herbs was called “NANAKUSA TATAKI” (seven herbs pounding) or “NAZUNA UCHI” (pounding the shepherd’s purse), and it was considered one of the spring customs.
However, this method of making is not widely passed down today, and only the custom of eating Nanakusa Gayu remains.
Additionally, it was said that soaking your nails in the water used to soak the 7 herbs or in the water used to boil them, and then cutting your nails, would ward off evil spirits and prevent you from catching a cold for the entire year. It was called “NANAKUSA ZUME”. From a cosmetic standpoint, cutting moist nails causes less damage than cutting dry nails, so this is also very reasonable.
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